生物谷報(bào)道：中國(guó)科學(xué)院動(dòng)物研究所張健旭副研究員一項(xiàng)新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)雄小鼠越聞貓尿，越能使其自身氣味對(duì)雌性產(chǎn)生誘惑,。過(guò)去的諸多研究發(fā)現(xiàn)貓的氣味典型地引起小鼠的驚慌或逃逸?？茖W(xué)家們預(yù)計(jì)受到脅迫的正常小鼠會(huì)減少其性愛(ài)生活,。為了觀察一縷貓味是否可以作為小鼠的驅(qū)避劑趕走害鼠，研究人員將小鼠暴露給貓尿8周,。沒(méi)想到,，2個(gè)月的貓的氣味的暴露并沒(méi)有引起鼠的畏縮，反而,，導(dǎo)致了進(jìn)攻性的鼠,。這些鼠的攻擊力比平行暴露給兔子尿液的鼠高2倍。之前,，普遍認(rèn)為天敵的存在總是對(duì)其獵物有負(fù)面影響,，“但是我們的發(fā)現(xiàn)說(shuō)明底劑量或適度劑量的捕食壓力對(duì)獵物可能有正面作用，”研究人員張健旭說(shuō),，張是中國(guó)科學(xué)院動(dòng)物研究所信息素研究人員。研究人員認(rèn)為,，雌鼠喜歡進(jìn)攻性雄鼠,，同時(shí)，經(jīng)常暴露給貓尿的鼠類可能類似那些能在經(jīng)常受到天敵威脅而存活下來(lái)的強(qiáng)壯鼠,。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)可能在改善圈養(yǎng)動(dòng)物的生活方面有用,，張說(shuō)。動(dòng)物園可以用一點(diǎn)天敵的氣味來(lái)刺激動(dòng)物,，以豐化動(dòng)物的環(huán)境或行為,。
這篇論文是張健旭副研究員和海外合作者孫立新教授， Milos Novotny教授等合作完成的,。（生物谷www.bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Journal of Ethology,，Volume 26, Number 2，279-286,，Jian-Xu Zhang,，Milos V. Novotny
Chronic exposure of cat odor enhances aggression, urinary attractiveness and sex pheromones of mice
Jian-Xu Zhang1, 3 , Lixing Sun2, Kevin E. Bruce3 and Milos V. Novotny3
(1) State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datunlu RD, Beijing, 100101, China
(2) Department of Biological Sciences, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA 98926-7537, USA
(3) Institute for Pheromone Research and Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Received: 18 May 2007 Accepted: 31 July 2007 Published online: 14 September 2007
Abstract To test whether predator odor exposure negatively affects the behavior of prey, we exposed three groups of male house mice (Mus musculus) to the odors of cat (Felis catus) urine, rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) urine and water (control), respectively, for consecutive 58 days and investigated how the treatments affected the response, aggressiveness, dominance, urinary attractiveness to females and pheromone composition of male mice. Compared to mice exposed to rabbit urine or water, those exposed to cat odor did not show any response habituation to the cat odor and became more aggressive, increased mark urine production and were more attractive to females when the latter were tested with their urine. Furthermore, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry analysis revealed coincident elevations of the well-known male pheromones, E,E-α-farnesene, E-β-farnesene, R,R-dehydro-exo-brevicomin or S-2-sec-butyl-dihydrothiazole. In addition, rabbit urine exposure increased urinary attractiveness to females and pheromonal levels of the males in comparison with the mice exposed to water. This could be related to olfactory enrichment of heterospecific chemosignals, suggesting that predator odors were more beneficial. In light of these anti-intuitional findings in the chemical interaction between cats and mice, we conclude that predator odor affects prey more profoundly than previously believed and that its impact may not always be negative.
